This invention relates generally to social networking system user interfaces and, in particular, to mobile and tactile interfaces for presenting social networking system information.
Social networking systems capture large volumes of information from various sources that are of interest to users. For a given user this information may include, for example, social data related to the user and her social connections, news related to the user's interests, entertainment selected for the user, and updates from the user's social connections. In the past users interacted with social networking systems through interfaces that were displayed on personal computer (PC) screens. However, there are a growing number of users that now interact with social networking systems through mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, etc. Because the volume of social networking system information is large and continuously generated, it is not always practical to display this information on a mobile device using PC-adapted user interfaces. For example, the typical PC user interfaces, where the thumbnails and buttons are relatively small compared to the total user interface area, are poorly adapted to tactile interfaces such as the small touch screens of smart phones. The small screen size of touch screen smart phones makes it difficult to navigate and select data in interfaces that are designed for larger computer screens. In addition, interfaces designed for operation by mouse and keyboard do not always migrate well to touch screens and other tactile interfaces where touch and gestures are the primary mode of interaction.
In addition, the present interfaces for social networking systems are not well adapted to take advantage of the fact that modern mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are not only capable of displaying content, but have the capability, through their image-capture and video-capture facilities, to create content that may be uploaded to the social networking system. Social networking systems currently do not have a way for users to preview content in its final social networking context as it is being captured.